Flexible shaft coupling



June 21, 1938. w MORGAN 2,121,507

FLEXIBLE SHAFT COUPLING Filed June 14, 1937 3mm Mar :071 140 407 0171,

Patented June 21, 1938 g UNITED'STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FLEXIBLE SHAFT COUPLING Merton W. Morgan, Baltimore, Md., assignor to Poole Foundry & Machine Company, Baltimore, Md., a corporation of Maryland Application June 14, 1931, Serial No. 148,183

9 Claims. (01. 64-9),

This invention relates to improvements'in flex- The form of coupling illustrated consists of ible shaft couplings and, particularly, to that hub members Ill, Ill, fast on the ends'of the type of coupling wherein motion is transmitted driving and driven shafts II. II, respec l from the driving to the driven shaft by a sleeve a sleeve I! having a driving connection with said member encircling the juxtaposed ends of said hubs. The sleeve is formed of sections secured shafts. together by bolts It for facilitating assembly and The primary object of the invention is to pro-- disassembly, and the driving connection may take vide means for preventing escape or loss of lubri the form of teeth IS on the hub members engagcant from the driving sleeve. ing in teeth I6 on the interior of the sleeve sec- 10 In couplings of the type mentioned, the ends of tions. The crowns of teeth I5 are usually curved 10 the sleeve are closed by plates which contact the to permit rocking of the sleeve thereon and thus shafts, or hub members on said shafts, to precompensate for misalinement.

vent foreign matter gaining access to the interior As is understood in the art, a suitable quanof the sleeve and contaminating the lubricant tity of lubricant is deposited in the sleeve for a 1 usually carried in the sleeve. However, the eonlubrication of the moving parts, particularly the II tact at the points mentioned is not always of a intermeshing teeth l5, IS, the lubricant being recharacter which will completely seal the oil in tained in said sleeve 'by end closures such as the sleeve. As a result, when the coupling is not plates l1 bolted on the sleeve ends. To prevent in operation, oil on the surfaces of the hub memdirt and other foreign matter gaining access to go hers or shafts seeps past the sleeve plates and the interior of the sleeve and the lubricant, the go is lost. In view of these conditions the present end plates are adapted to contact the hub meminvention provides means for preventing oil in hers with a small annular body of packing ill the sleeve gaining access to the joint between interposed between said parts. This contact, the sleeve plates and hub members at all times however. must not be too firm and. as a conseso'that it is impossible for the lubricant to escape quence, it does not form a perfect seal for retai'n- 5 at these points. i ing the lubricant in the sleeve, particularly when Specifically, the invention contemplates a the coupling is at rest. That is, while shafts and radial shoulder on each hub member, preferably sleeve are rotating, centrifugal action causes the formed by an annular depression located a short lubricant to spread out on the inner surface of distance from the end plate inwardly of the the sleeve in film-like formation of sufficient so I sleeve and a flange on each plate extending into depth to properly lubricate the teeth i5, it, but the sleeve at least to the radial plane on which when the coupling comes to rest lubricant in the depression is located. With this arrangethe upper portion of the sleeve will fall or drain ment,oil which has been carried to the upper onto the surfaces of the hub members and, in

part of the sleeve by centrifugal force during the absence of means other than the packing I8, at

operation of the coupling will be caught on said a goodly portion thereof is lost by seeping past flanges when the coupling ceases rotation and said packing.

will be deflected by said flanges away from the This loss of lubricant is positively precluded by surfaces of the hub members intermediate the the present invention which consists of means 4 depressions and end plates. Also, any oil on the for preventing lubricant in the sleeve gainingsurfaces of the hub members inwardly beyond access to or reaching thepoints at which the the depressions cannot possibly reach the points packing it engages the hub members. For in.- of contact of. end plates and hub members by stance, the hub members are provided with radireason ofthe annular, radial shoulders formed ally disposed shoulders is spaced from the packby the depressions. ing l8 inwardly of sleeve I3, said shoulders pref- 45 Withthese and other objects in view, the inerably being formed by annular recesses 20 in vention consists in certain details of constructhe surfaces of said hub members. With these tion and combinations and arrangements of radial shoulders, lubricant on the surfaces of the a parts, all as will hereinafter be more fully dehub members at the sides of the shoulders rescribed and the novel features thereof particularmote from packing 18 cannot flow beyond the so ly pointed ut i th appended claim shoulders or reach the packing. In addition, In the accompanying drawing, the end portions means are also provided for preventing lubricant of the two shafts are shown in elevation, with being deposited on the surfaces of the hub memtheremainder of the structure in section, taken bers intermediate the shoulders and packing. vertically, longitudinally of the shafts. For this purpose, an annular flange 2| is pro-15 vided at each end of sleeve ll overhanging said intermediate portions of the hub members. Preferably, flanges ii are formed or carried on the and closure plates i1. They extend from said plates into the interior of the sleeves and in the preferred embodiment of the invention, the inner extremity of each flange is turned radially outward, as at 22, so that the outer radial face of the-flange is of trough-like formation. On the other hand, the inner radial face of each flange II slopes away from the end plate inwardly of the sleeve. The flanges 2i are of-such breadth or width that the inner extremity thereof is positioned'beyond the shoulder is inwardly of the sleeve so that, when the coupling ceases rotating, lubricant in the upper portions of the sleeve will fall either in recesses or in the trough-like surfaces of flanges 2i and drain to the bottom portion of the sleeve. In either event,

clined surfaces of flanges 2| and drain away from the packing points. It will be understood, of course, that the quantity of lubricant required inthe coupling is not sufficient to come up to the level of the hub member surfaces when the shafts are at rest. Thus it is impossible for the lubricant to reach the packing i8 on either hub member and, consequently, there is no loss of lubricant.-

What I claim is:

1. In a flexible shaft coupling, the combination with the driving and driven shafts, a hub member on each shaft, a sleeve encircling said hub members, driving connections between each hub member and said sleeve comprising intermeshing elements on the sleeve and hub members, closure plates for the ends of said sleeve each having lubricant-sealing engagement with one of said hub members. of means overlapping said intermeshing elements axially of the shafts for preventing lubricant within the sleeve gravitating onto the surfaces of said hub members adjacent said closure plates, and means for preventing lubricant on the surfaces of said members moving to the point of engagement between said closure plates and their respective hub members.

2. In a flexible shaft coupling, the combination with the driving and driven shafts, hub members on said shafts, a sleeve encircling said hub members, driving connections between said sleeve and each hub member, and plates closing the ends of said sleeve, each plate having a lubricant-sealing contact with one of said hub members, of means adjacent each end of said sleeve and intermediate said driving connections and the ends of said sleeve for preventing lubricant on the surfaces of the hub members moving to the points of contact between said plates and their respective hub members.

, 3. In a flexible shaft coupling comprising a pair of hub members, a lubricant-retaining sleeve encircling said members, intermeshing teeth on said members and sleeve and closure plates for the ends of said sleeve engaging said hub members, the combination of means for preventing flow of lubricant on the surfaces of said-hub members to the points of engagement of said closure plates and means on each closureplate projecting into the same radial plane as said teeth for preventing lubricant in the upper portion of the sleeve falling on said hub members at points between said last-mentioned means and said points of contact.

4. In a flexible shaft coupling comprising a pair of hub members, a lubricant-retaining sleeve encircling said members and having driving engagement therewith, and closure plates for the ends of said sleeve having lubricant-sealing contact with said hub members, said hub members having radial offsets on their surfaces between the points of driving engagement and the points of engagement of said plates and hub members.

5. In a flexible shaft coupling comprising a pair of hub members, a lubricant-retaining sleeve encircling said members and having driving engagement therewith, said driving engagement consisting of intermeshing elements on said members and sleeve, and closure plates for the ends of said sleeve having lubricant-sealing contact with said hub members, said hub members having radial offsets on their surfaces spaced inwardly of the sleeve from the points of engagement of said plates and hub members, and means projecting into the same radial plane as said intermeshing driving elements for preventing lubricant in the upper portion of the sleeve falling on said hub members intermediate said offsets and the points of contact between the hub members and plates.

6. In a flexible shaft coupling comprising a pair of hub members, a lubricant-retaining sleeve encircling said members and having driving engagement therewith, said driving engagement consisting of intermeshing elements on said members and sleeve, and closure plates for the ends of said sleeve having lubricant-sealing contact with said hub members, said hub members having radial offsets on their surfaces spaced inwardly of the sleeve from the points of engagement of said plates and hub members, and flanges on said plates extending into said sleeve, said flanges being located in the same radial planes as the intermeshing driving elements and overlying the surfaces of hub members intermediate said offsets and the points of contact between the closure plates and said members.

7. In a flexible shaft coupling comprising a pair of hub members, a lubricant-retaining sleeve encircling said members and having driving engagement therewith, and closure plates for the ends of said sleeve having lubricant-sealing contact with said hub members, said hub members having radial offsets on their surfaces spaced inwardly 0f the sleeve from the points of engagement of said plates and hub members, and flanges extending from said plates inwardly of the sleeve in the same radial planes as the portions of the surfaces of the hub members intermediate said offsets and the points of contact between said plates and members, the inner radial faces of said flanges sloping inwardly of said sleeve.

8. In a flexible shaft coupling comprising a pair of hub members, a lubricant-retaining sleeve encircling said members and having driving engagement therewith, and closure plates for the ends of said sleeve having lubricant-sealing contact with said hub members, said hub members having radial offsets on their surfaces spaced inwardly of the sleeve from the points of engagement of said plates and hub members, flanges extending from said plates inwardly of the sleeve in the same radial planes as the portions of the surfaces of the hub members intermediate said offsets and the points of contact between said plates and members, the inner radial faces of said flanges sloping inwardly of said sleeve, and an annular offset at the inner extremity of each flange protact with said hub members, said hub members having annular depressions therein spaced from said points of contact inwardly with respect to said sleeve, and flanges on said plates extending inwardly of the sleeve into the same radial planes 6 p as those in which said depressions are located.

MERTON W. MORGAN. 

